Method, system and computer program product for facilitating the analysis of automatic line insulation testing data

ABSTRACT

A method for analyzing automatic line insulation testing (ALIT) data comprising inserting ALIT error data into an ALIT database that includes records for exceptions located in the error data. A number of exceptions occurring on a selected summary date is calculated in response to receiving a summary request from a user including the selected summary date. Input to the calculating is the selected summary date and the ALIT database. The number of exceptions occurring on the summary date is transmitted to the user in response to the calculating. The user records located in the ALIT database that include a selected detail date are transmitted to the user in response to receiving from the user a request including the selected detail date. The ALIT database is updated with repair package information in response to receiving an add repair package request.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/538,248, filed Oct. 3, 2006, the contents of which are incorporatedby reference herein in their entirety. U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/538,248 is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.10/610,715 filed Jun. 30, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,116,759, issue dateOct. 10, 2006, the contents of which are incorporated by referenceherein in their entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure relates generally to the analysis of automaticline insulation testing data and in particular, to a method offacilitating the retrieval, organization and analysis of automatic lineinsulation testing data.

A typical regional telephone company central office, or wire center,houses a telephone switch to connect telephone calls between two or moreparties. A main distribution frame (MDF) frame includes a row of jumpersto connect the switch wires to cable pairs from outside of the centraloffice. Some cables utilize paper as insulation between the wires in thecable. Air compressors, located in the central office, are utilized tominimize the amount of water in the cables. When a cable gets nicked,the paper inside the cable may get wet and cause a short in the cable.It may be necessary to deploy a technician to fix the cable depending onfactors such as the number of shorts in a particular cable. In somecases, such as when there is only one short in the cable, the paper maybe dry once the technician gets to the cable to repair it. Sending atechnician to repair a problem that was corrected should be avoided andtechnicians should be sent to repair cables that need technician action.One way to determine if a repair package should be built to send atechnician to correct a problem is to have criteria such as: only builda repair package if there are more than three shorts, or crossings, ofmore than twenty volts in a twenty-five pair complement; and if there isonly a two volt cross in a cable pair then do not build a repair packageas the paper within the cable will probably be dry once the techniciangets there. Any criteria may be used to determine when to build a repairpackage and the criteria may be varied or modified based on experience(e.g., in general or in a particular geographic location).

Currently, many regional telephone companies utilized an off-the-shelfcomputer product called Predictor to compile morning reports detailingautomatic line insulation testing (ALIT) exceptions. ALIT is performednightly by equipment that sequentially tests lines in the central officefor battery crosses and grounds. The Predictor reports that include theresults of all the tests, including good cables and cables with batterycrosses and grounds, are sent to a printer. The Predictor report foreach state (e.g., Tennessee) requires about one box of paper each night.Each morning maintenance administrators (MAs) analyze the reports andbuild Predictor patterns so that the technicians in the field maycorrect the problems identified by the tests. The MAs must sift througha box or more of paper each morning to find the failures, or exceptions,that need to be fixed. This practice may be cumbersome for the MA andbecause it is manual, may be error prone. Also, it may take all morningfor the MA to sort through a particular portion of the Predictor report,with repair packages not being built until the afternoon. In addition,the current process does not produce back-up information for determiningwhat information was presented to the MA when a decision to build arepair package was made.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

One aspect of the present invention is a method for analyzing automaticline insulation testing (ALIT) data. The method comprises inserting ALITerror data into an ALIT database that includes records for exceptionslocated in the error data. A number of exceptions occurring on aselected summary date is calculated in response to receiving a summaryrequest from a user including the selected summary date. Input to thecalculating is the selected summary date and the ALIT database. Thenumber of exceptions occurring on the summary date is transmitted to theuser in response to the calculating. The user records located in theALIT database that include a selected detail date are transmitted to theuser in response to receiving from the user a request including theselected detail date. The ALIT database is updated with repair packageinformation in response to receiving an add repair package request.

In another aspect, a system for analyzing ALIT data comprises a storagedevice and a host system in communication with the storage device. Thestorage device includes an ALIT database that includes records forexceptions located in the error data. The host system includesapplication software to implement a method comprising inserting ALITerror data into the ALIT database. A number of exceptions occurring on aselected summary date is calculated in response to receiving a summaryrequest from a user including the selected summary date. Input to thecalculating is the selected summary date and the ALIT database. Thenumber of exceptions occurring on the summary date is transmitted to theuser in response to the calculating. The user records located in theALIT database that include a selected detail date are transmitted to theuser in response to receiving from the user a request including theselected detail date. The ALIT database is updated with repair packageinformation in response to receiving an add repair package request.

In a further aspect, a computer program product for analyzing ALIT datacomprises a storage medium readable by a processing circuit and storinginstructions for execution by the processing circuit for performing amethod comprising inserting ALIT error data into an ALIT database thatincludes records for exceptions located in the error data. A number ofexceptions occurring on a selected summary date is calculated inresponse to receiving a summary request from a user including theselected summary date. Input to the calculating is the selected summarydate and the ALIT database. The number of exceptions occurring on thesummary date is transmitted to the user in response to the calculating.The user records located in the ALIT database that include a selecteddetail date are transmitted to the user in response to receiving fromthe user a request including the selected detail date. The ALIT databaseis updated with repair package information in response to receiving anadd repair package request.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Referring to the exemplary drawings wherein like elements are numberedalike in the several FIGURES:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary system for analyzing ALITdata;

FIG. 2 is flow diagram of an exemplary process for creating an ALITdatabase for analyzing ALIT data;

FIG. 3 is an exemplary ALIT database record;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for utilizing an ALITdatabase for analyzing ALIT data;

FIG. 5 is an exemplary user interface for viewing a list of the numberof exceptions per wire center for a particular day;

FIG. 6 is an exemplary user interface for viewing a list of allexceptions for the selected wire center;

FIG. 7 is an exemplary user interface for entering repair packageinformation into the ALIT database;

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for analyzing thedecision process of a MA when a repair package was created;

FIG. 9 is an exemplary user interface for viewing a list of the numberof repair packages built per month by each MA;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary user interface for viewing a list of all repairpackages built in a selected month by a particular MA; and

FIG. 11 is an exemplary user interface for viewing the test datautilized by a MA when the MA decided to build the repair package.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

A method for analyzing automatic line insulation testing (ALIT) data ispresented. The method identifies exceptions that need to be handledwithout going through the paper report. When an MA gets to work in themorning the ALIT information has already been processed and stored in anALIT database. In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, theMA logs on to a computer system and selects a district to be analyzed.The MA then views a list of the exception counts by wire center on thecomputer screen. The report automatically excludes exceptions that havealready been addressed by repair packages. The MA may then select a wirecenter to drill down to the details of the exceptions for the wirecenter. The exceptions for each cable are grouped together and are colorcoded to indicate that the exceptions pertain to the same cable. The MAmay then analyze the data and build repair packages. An exemplaryembodiment of the present invention allows the MA to analyze ALIT datawithout having to sift through large volumes of paper and without havingto be knowledgeable in database search tools (e.g., SQL).

In FIG. 1, a block diagram of an exemplary system for facilitating theanalysis of ALIT data is generally shown. The exemplary system includesa host system 110 located in a central office operating as anapplication server. The host system 110 executes a tool called ALIT anddumps the results to a commercially available tool called Predictor,which compiles morning reports detailing ALIT exceptions. The Predictortool runs on the predictor system 112. ALIT is performed nightly byequipment that sequentially tests lines in the central office forbattery crosses and grounds. The Predictor reports that include theresults of all the tests, including good cables and cables with batterycrosses and grounds are sent to a printer. In an exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention, the Predictor reports are printed to a virtualprinter and the reports are stored in a storage device 108 connected(directly or via a network) to the host system 110.

The system in FIG. 1 also includes one or more user systems 102 throughwhich MAs located at one or more geographic locations may contact thehost system 104 to initiate the execution of the ALIT analysis process.In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the host system 104executes the ALIT analysis application program and the user system 102is coupled to the host system 104 via a network 106. Each user system102 may be implemented using a general-purpose computer executing acomputer program for carrying out the processes described herein. Theuser system 102 may be a personal computer (e.g., a lap top, a personaldigital assistant) or a host attached terminal. If the user system 102is a personal computer, the processing described herein may be shared bya user system 102 and the host system 104 (e.g., by providing an appletto the user system 102).

The network 106 may be any type of known network including, but notlimited to, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), aglobal network (e.g. Internet), a virtual private network (VPN), and anintranet. The network 106 may be implemented using a wireless network orany kind of physical network implementation known in the art. A usersystem 102 may be coupled to the host system through multiple networks(e.g., intranet and LAN) so that not all user systems 102 are coupled tothe host system 104 through the same network. One or more of the usersystems 102 and the host system 104 may be connected to the network 106in a wireless fashion. In an exemplary embodiment, the user system 102is connected to the host system 104 via an intranet and the host system104 executes the ALIT analysis application software.

The storage device 108 may be implemented using a variety of devices forstoring electronic information. It is understood that the storage device108 may be implemented using memory contained in the host system 104 orit may be a separate physical device. The storage device 108 islogically addressable as a consolidated data source across a distributedenvironment that includes a network 106. The physical data may belocated in a variety of geographic locations depending on applicationand access requirements. Information stored in the storage device 108may be retrieved and manipulated via the host system 104. The storagedevice 108 includes an ALIT database. The storage device 108 may alsoinclude other kinds of data such as information concerning the creationof the ALIT database records (e.g., date and time of creation). In anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, the host system 104operates as a database server and coordinates access to application dataincluding data stored on storage device 108.

The host system 104 depicted in FIG. 1 may be implemented using one ormore servers operating in response to a computer program stored in astorage medium accessible by the server. The host system 104 may operateas a network server (e.g., a web server) to communicate with the usersystem 102. The host system 104 handles sending and receivinginformation to and from the user system 102 and can perform associatedtasks. The host system 104 may reside behind a firewall to preventunauthorized access to the host system 104 and enforce any limitationson authorized access. A firewall may be implemented using conventionalhardware and/or software as is known in the art.

The host system 104 may also operate as an application server. The hostsystem 104 executes one or more computer programs to facilitate theanalysis of ALIT data. One of the computer programs is the ALIT analysisapplication program. Processing may be shared by the user system 102 andthe host system 104 by providing an application (e.g., java applet) tothe user system 102. Alternatively, the user system 102 may include astand-alone software application for performing a portion or all of theprocessing described herein. As previously described, it is understoodthat separate servers may be utilized to implement the network serverfunctions and the application server functions. Alternatively, thenetwork server, the firewall, and the application server may beimplemented by a single server executing computer programs to performthe requisite functions.

FIG. 2 is flow diagram of an exemplary process for creating an ALITdatabase for analyzing ALIT data. At step 202, the ALIT is executed inthe central office. At step 204, the ALIT results are transmitted to thePredictor system 112. The Predictor software compiles a morning reportfor each wire center at step 206. Next, at step 208, the Predictorsoftware transmits the morning report to a virtual printer 208, locatedon a storage device 108. In this manner, the Predictor software does notneed to be modified to utilize an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention because the Predictor software sends output to the storagedevice 108 in the same manner that it already sends output to a printer.At step 210, the software located on the host system 104 parses the textof the Predictor reports (e.g., extracts only exception records) andinserts the data into an ALIT database located on the storage device108. Finally, at step 220, the MAs may access the data in the ALITdatabase via a network.

FIG. 3 is an exemplary ALIT database located on the storage device 108and created by step 210 in FIG. 2. The database includes an entry, orrecord, for each exception in the Predictor report. Each entry includesattributes such as: wire center 302; maintenance analyst name 304;exception date 306; repair package 308 (blank if no repair package hasbeen built for the exception and filled in with a repair package numberif the MA has built a repair package for the exception); facility number310; cable 312; pair 314 within the cable; trouble message 316;telephone number 318 affected by the exception; terminal address (TEA)320; and test result 322. In an exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, the ALIT database is a relational database to allow for easysorting, manipulating and reporting of the ALIT data, however otherdatabase management systems may be implemented. Alternate embodiments ofthe present invention may include a subset of these attributes and/oradditional attributes depending on installation requirements. In theexemplary embodiment of the ALIT database depicted in FIG. 3, theattributes are sourced from the Predictor reports. In an alternateembodiment of the present invention, attributes from other sources maybe combined with the Predictor report database based on installationrequirements.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process that a MA may followwhen utilizing an ALIT database for analyzing ALIT data. At step 402 theMA may view a list that includes the number of exceptions per wirecenter for a particular day. FIG. 5 is an exemplary user interfacescreen for viewing a list of the number of exceptions per wire centerfor a particular day. The user interface screen includes a table withone line for each wire center 302. The columns of the table include:wire center 302; maintenance analyst name 304; maximum packages 502 (thefield supervisor's estimate at how many packages his team can handle);total number of exceptions 504 in the wire center 302; and exceptiondate 306. With the exception of the maximum packages 502 column, theinformation in the user interface screen depicted in FIG. 5 is derivedby executing a query against the data contained in the ALIT database.

Referring back to FIG. 4, at step 404, the MA may select a wire center302 from the user interface screen depicted in FIG. 5 by “clicking on” aparticular wire center 302 on the screen. At step 406, a list of all theexceptions for the selected wire center is presented to the MA. FIG. 6is an exemplary user interface for viewing a list of all exceptions forthe selected wire center. The user interface screen includes a tablewith one line for each exception. The columns of the table include:repair package 308; facility number 310; cable 312; pair 314; troublemessage 316; telephone number 318; TEA 320 and test result 322. The userinterface screen is also color coded and sorted by cable so that a MAmay quickly identify which exceptions belong to the same cable. Forexample, the first line 602 is an exception for cable number thirteenand the second four lines 604 are exceptions for cable number elevenhundred and forty-four.

The table in FIG. 6 does not include exceptions that have already beenaddressed (e.g., by building a repair package) by the MA so that the MAcan focus on those exceptions that may possibly need to be addressed. Inan alternate exemplary embodiment, the table depicted in FIG. 6 onlyincludes cables that have three or more exceptions, and/or the table issorted with the cables having the highest number of exceptions comingfirst. Any number of sort orders and selection criteria may be utilizedwith an exemplary embodiment of the present invention to build thescreen depicted in FIG. 6. The sort order and selection criteria for thetable may be modified (e.g., for the entire system, for a particularwire center, for a particular MA, for a particular day) as required. Tobuild a repair package for one or more exceptions the MA selects, or“clicks on” the repair package 308 column in the table.

Referring back to FIG. 4, a MA may decide to build a repair package thatincludes one or more exceptions at step 408. The decision to build arepair package may be based on many factors such as the number offailures and/or the severity of failures for a particular cable. In anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, the MA enters a separatesystem to build a repair package and then returns to the ALIT analysisapplication program to enter information about the repair package. FIG.7 is an exemplary user interface for entering repair package informationinto the ALIT database. The user interface displays the wire center 302,the facility number 310, the cable 312 and the exception date 306. Theuser is prompted to enter the number associated with the repair package308, the low pair 314 included in the repair package 308 and the highpair 314 included in the repair package 308. When the MA selects submit702 the information is added into the ALIT database. In an alternateexemplary embodiment of the present invention, the system that buildsthe repair package is integrated with the ALIT analysis system toautomatically update the ALIT database with the information when arepair package is built. This may be accomplished by having the ALITanalysis system extract information from the system that builds therepair packages or by having the repair package building system sendingthe information to the ALIT database.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of an exemplary process for analyzing thedecision process of a maintenance analyst when a repair package wascreated. This may be useful in refining the decision process used by theMAs to determine when to create a repair package and to track the typesof exceptions that actually require a repair package for correction. Atstep 802, a MA supervisor or MA may select the report option. At step804, the MA supervisor is presented with a list of the number of repairpackages built per month by each MA. FIG. 9 is an exemplary userinterface for viewing a list of the number of repair packages built permonth by each MA. The user interface screen in FIG. 9 includes a tablewith one line for each MA. The MA is identified by a common useridentification (CUID) 902 which corresponds to the MA name 304. For eachCUID 902 a year to date total 904 of all repair packages built as wellas the total number of repair packages built on a monthly basis 906 aredisplayed. The values in these columns may be calculated using datacontained in the ALIT database.

Referring back to FIG. 8, at step 806, the MA supervisor selects a monthfor a particular MA by “clicking on” the month in the user interfacescreen depicted in FIG. 9. At step 808, the MA supervisor may view alist of all repair packages built in the selected month for the selectedMA. FIG. 10 is an exemplary user interface for viewing a list of allrepair packages built in a selected month by a particular MA. The MAsupervisor is presented with a table that includes one line for eachrepair package built during the selected month. The columns include wirecenter 302, exception date 306, facility number 310, cable 312, low pair314, high pair 314 and repair package 308. Again, the data in thesecolumns is derived from the contents of the ALIT database.

At step 810 in FIG. 8, the MA supervisor may select a particular repairpackage to understand the criteria utilized by the MA in creating therepair package by “clicking on” the repair package field in FIG. 10. Atstep 812, the ALIT test results the MA utilized when deciding to buildthe repair package are displayed. FIG. 11 is an exemplary user interfacefor viewing the test data utilized by a MA when the MA decided to buildthe repair package. The user interface screen includes a table with oneline for each exception. The columns of the table include: facilitynumber 310; cable 312; pair 314; trouble message 316; telephone number318; TEA 320 and test result 322. The user interface screen is alsocolor coded and sorted by cable so that a MA supervisor may quicklyidentify which exceptions belong to the same cable. For example, thefirst three lines 1102 are exceptions for cable number one and the nextthree lines 1104 are exceptions for cable number thirteen.

These reports may be utilized by a MA supervisor for evaluation andtraining of MAs and they could point out the need for modified criteriafor building repair packages. These reports are examples of the type ofinformation that may be gleaned from the ALIT database. Other sortorders and content are possible in an alternate exemplary embodiment ofthe present invention. In addition, the reports may be entered into aspreadsheet package (e.g., Excel) and/or e-mailed to a field technicianif there is some question about whether a repair package should havebeen created. An alternate embodiment of the present invention includescreating a report that shows the status of ALIT in all offices. Thereport may filter out only those offices that require attention becauseALIT has not executed. In this manner a MA may know whether the data inthe ALIT database is complete.

An embodiment of the present invention organizes ALIT exception data inan on-line database. This may lead to increased analysis speed because aMA is no longer required to sift through a massive report to identifyand group exceptions to build a repair package. In contrast, anembodiment of the present invention groups together exceptions based onexception date and cable so that the MA may easily identify and analyzeexceptions. In addition, using an automated on-line database may lead toa decrease in the number of errors in terms of repair packages thatweren't built that should have been built and repair packages that werebuilt that didn't need to be built. This may lead to an increasedreliance by technicians in the field on the repair packages being builtand delivered. Further, the ability to analyze the data that a MA hadavailable on a particular date may lead to improving the repair packagebuilding analysis process. An embodiment of the present invention mayalso lead to a cost savings in terms of the amount of paper that may besaved. Finally, a value may be attached to fixing exceptions morequickly in terms of both MA time savings and customer good will.

As described above, the embodiments of the invention may be embodied inthe form of computer-implemented processes and apparatuses forpracticing those processes. Embodiments of the invention may also beembodied in the form of computer program code containing instructionsembodied in tangible media, such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, harddrives, or any other computer-readable storage medium, wherein, when thecomputer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, thecomputer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. Anembodiment of the present invention can also be embodied in the form ofcomputer program code, for example, whether stored in a storage medium,loaded into and/or executed by a computer, or transmitted over sometransmission medium, such as over electrical wiring or cabling, throughfiber optics, or via electromagnetic radiation, wherein, when thecomputer program code is loaded into and executed by a computer, thecomputer becomes an apparatus for practicing the invention. Whenimplemented on a general-purpose microprocessor, the computer programcode segments configure the microprocessor to create specific logiccircuits.

While the invention has been described with reference to exemplaryembodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art thatvarious changes may be made and equivalents may be substituted forelements thereof without departing from the scope of the invention. Inaddition, many modifications may be made to adapt a particular situationor material to the teachings of the invention without departing from theessential scope thereof. Therefore, it is intended that the inventionnot be limited to the particular embodiment disclosed as the best modecontemplated for carrying out this invention, but that the inventionwill include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appendedclaims. Moreover, the use of the terms first, second, etc. do not denoteany order or importance, but rather the terms first, second, etc. areused to distinguish one element from another.

1. A method for facilitating the analysis of automatic line insulationtesting (ALIT) data, the method comprising: inserting ALIT error datainto an ALIT database, wherein the ALIT database includes records forexceptions located in the error data; calculating a number of exceptionsoccurring on a selected summary date in response to receiving a summaryrequest from a user including the selected summary date, wherein inputto the calculating is the selected summary date and the ALIT database;transmitting to the user the number of exceptions occurring on thesummary date in response to the calculating; transmitting to the userrecords located in the ALIT database that include a selected detail datein response to receiving from the user a request including the selecteddetail date; and updating the ALIT database with repair packageinformation in response to receiving an add repair package request. 2.The method of claim 1 wherein the user transmits the summary request andspecifies the selected summary date with one keystroke by selecting theselected summary date on a user screen.
 3. The method of claim 1 whereininput to the calculating includes only records from the ALIT databasethat have not been previously included in a repair package and thatcontain the selected summary date in the exception data attribute. 4.The method of claim 1 wherein input to the calculating includes onlyrecords from the ALIT database that correspond to cables that containthree or more exceptions records on the selected summary date.
 5. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the records located in the ALIT database thatinclude the selected detail date include only those records that havenot been previously included in a repair package.
 6. The method of claim1 wherein the records located in the ALIT database that include theselected detail date include only those records corresponding to cablesthat contain three or more exception records.
 7. The method of claim 1wherein the user specifies the selected detail date with one keystrokeby selecting the selected detail date on a user screen.
 8. The method ofclaim 1 wherein the repair package information is received from theuser.
 9. The method of claim 8 wherein the records relating to the samecable are color-coded and grouped together on the user screen.
 10. Themethod of claim 1 wherein the repair package information is receivedfrom an application that creates the repair package.
 11. The method ofclaim 10 wherein the application is Proact.
 12. The method of claim 1further comprising transmitting to the user the number of the repairpackages built per month by each maintenance analyst in response toreceiving a maintenance analyst summary request.
 13. The method of claim1 further comprising transmitting to the user the repair packages builtby a selected maintenance analyst in response to receiving a maintenanceanalyst detail request including the selected maintenance analyst. 14.The method of claim 1 further comprising transmitting to the user ALITtest results utilized by the maintenance analyst to create the repairpackage in response to receiving a repair package detail requestincluding the repair package number.
 15. The method of claim 1 furthercomprising transmitting to the user a subset of the ALIT database inresponse to receiving a user defined query from the user, wherein thesubset of the ALIT database is responsive to the user defined query. 16.The method of claim 1 wherein the records in the ALIT database includeone or more of a wire center attribute, an exception date attribute, afacility number attribute, a cable attribute, a pair attribute, a repairpackage attribute, a maintenance analyst name attribute, a troublemessage attribute, a telephone number attribute, a terminal address(TEA) attribute and a test result attribute.
 17. The method of claim 1wherein the add repair package request includes one or more of a wirecenter, a facility, a cable, an exception date, a repair package number,a low pair and a high pair.
 18. A system for facilitating the analysisof ALIT data, the system comprising: a storage device including an ALITdatabase; and a host system in communication with the storage device,the host system including application software to implement a methodcomprising: inserting ALIT error data into the ALIT database, whereinthe ALIT database includes records for exceptions located in the errordata; calculating a number of exceptions occurring on a selected summarydate in response to receiving a summary request via the network from theuser system, the summary request including the selected summary date,wherein input to the calculating is the selected summary date and theALIT database; transmitting to the user system via the network thenumber of exceptions occurring on the summary date in response to thecalculating; transmitting to the user system via the network recordslocated in the ALIT database that include a selected detail date inresponse to receiving from the user system a request including theselected detail date; and updating the ALIT database with repair packageinformation in response to receiving via the network an add repairpackage request.
 19. The system of claim 18 wherein the ALIT database isa relational database.
 20. The system of claim 18 wherein the usersystem is located in the same geographic location as the host system.21. The system of claim 20 wherein the user system and the host systemcommunicate directly.
 22. The system of claim 18 wherein the user systemis located in a different geographic location than the host system. 23.A computer program product for vehicle diagnostic record mapping, thecomputer program product comprising: a storage medium readable by aprocessing circuit and storing instructions for execution by theprocessing circuit for performing a method comprising: inserting ALITerror data into an ALIT database, wherein the ALIT database includesrecords for exceptions located in the error data; calculating a numberof exceptions occurring on a selected summary date in response toreceiving a summary request from a user including the selected summarydate, wherein input to the calculating is the selected summary date andthe ALIT database; transmitting to the user the number of exceptionsoccurring on the summary date in response to the calculating;transmitting to the user records located in the ALIT database thatinclude a selected detail date in response to receiving from the user arequest including the selected detail date; and updating the ALITdatabase with repair package information in response to receiving an addrepair package request.